Boomm celebrates Halloween in a big way. One year, we held a scary story contest that resulted in some remarkably imaginative entries. Another year, our CEO Gary Mattes created a lighted sign that eerily glowed “BOO,” until the letters “MM” illuminated to complete the agency name. But the most frightening memories by far are from our old, haunted offices in La Grange. Boomm employees still whisper about “The Twins,” our resident ghosts. These spectral sisters were always making unexplained noises, knocking objects off shelves, rumbling about in the dusty attic, or triggering car alarms during client calls. The Twins made working late at Boomm an adventure for the brave hearted. In the spirit
Visit the business or self-improvement section in any library or bookstore, and you will find books on unleashing your creativity. Some of these titles are famous and considered classics, like “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, which was first published almost forty years ago. The Artist’s Way explains how to connect with your creative side by writing regularly and exploring new things. It demystifies challenges, counsels exploring new experiences as inspiration, and nudges the reader to bring her creative self out into the open Other books are more recent and have gained many ardent followers, such as “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon.
A major B2B program status meeting is about to start. Every key department is represented, including the C-Suite, Strategy, Analytics, Category Marketing, Sales, Logistics, Social Media, Programming, IT, Finance and Account Services. To underscore the importance of this cross-functional gathering, no one is checking their phones, not even covertly. At precisely 9:00 am, the big meeting begins. First, the CEO reinforces the overarching objectives of the program: capture more market share, achieve better visibility with key decision makers, build brand equity, and make the shareholders happy. Then, Strategy shares a massive omnichannel plan designed to realize those ambitious goals. Next, Analytics weighs in with the KPIs the project must achieve to be considered a
Every year around this time the insanity begins. The first emails arrive proclaiming, “Call for entries.” The account and creative teams heatedly debate over which campaigns might impress the judges. The agency president frets over winning more trophies than her competitors. And the low-key accountant starts ranting when he sees the escalating cost of the entry fees. Yes, it's marketing awards time again. This whole pageant might seem silly to outsiders, but the marketing world cherishes its awards more than ever. In fact, a recent Google search for “marketing awards” produced 1,110,000,000 results. This season you can enter competitions for global marketing, regional marketing, digital marketing, content marketing, broadcast marketing, event marketing, influencer
The marketing profession has become obsessed with the idea of storytelling. Marketing channels have essentially become modes of storytelling. You’ll hear the desire for “good stories” used regularly in reference to content, videos, websites, social media, podcasts and even data. Marketing titles have also evolved to include storytelling. A recent Google search for “storytelling jobs” produced over 1,000 results. Here are some of the positions that came up: Chief Storytelling Officer Story Strategist Director of Digital Storytelling Head of Story and Narrative Visual Storyteller Storytelling Coach Content Storyteller Executive Storytelling Head Brand Storyteller But it doesn't stop there. Even entire agencies have been rebranded to focus on storytelling instead of marketing. From a
Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of articles that reflect upon the 25th anniversary of Boomm B2B Marketing and the significant changes in our industry over that time. Gary Mattes is the CEO of Boomm and the proud son of an advertising creative director. There is a compelling fact that Gary likes to share about his father’s professional world because it gives everyone a unique perspective on today’s technology-driven industry. “My father used the same tools of the trade from the day he started in advertising until the day he retired,” Gary confides. “We have changed our tools countless times in the last year alone.” [caption id="attachment_7490" align="alignnone" width="206"] Mr.